Hear Farao’s Icily Apocalyptic ‘The Hours’

Norwegian singer's debut EP arrives on February 9

Farao is Kari Jahnsen, a Norway-reared, London-based singer and multi-instrumentalist who mixes folk plaintiveness with chilly electronic textures. Her debut EP, also titled Farao and recorded in Reykjavik with Tunng’s Mike Lindsay, arrives on February 9 via Something Nothing Records. The intricate folktronica and wending vocals of “The Hours” make it easy enough to picture the EP’s Icelandic setting. But get lost in the frosty atmosphere and you might miss the apocalyptic portent: “The end of time is coming your way,” she doesn’t so much warn as coolly state for the record, in a mode that brings to mind otherworldly Welsh Nico heiress Cate Le Bon.

“The Hours” is set for a video treatment with an assist from Oscar-nominated Norwegian director Hallvar Witzø. Jahnsen’s other projects include Hella Better Dancer, Anna Lena and the Orchids, and Douglas Dare’s backing band. She’s planning to record a Farao full-length this year with Wild Beasts and Ghostpoet producer Richard Formby.

Scroll down for the EP’s previous singles: the scorched-earth “Tell a Lie” and gossamer “Skin.”